Men’s Track Finishes Second for Best-Ever Finish at America East Outdoor Championships; Women Place Fourth

VESTAL, N.Y. – Senior
sprinter Dennison
Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU) won the 100m
and 200m dash events, and anchored the 4x100m relay to a stirring
win as the UMBC men's track and field team earned its best-ever
finish at the America East Outdoor Championships, placing second
overall, Sunday at Binghamton University's East Gym Complex.

Long, who also scored with the 4x400 relay team, earned the Most
Outstanding Male Track Performer award, as well as the Coaches'
Award for accumulating the most points of any individual
competitor.

Long, who also earned the top individual honor at the indoor
championships, started his day by finishing the 4x100 relay for the
team consisting of junior Pat
Balderson (Mount Airy, Md./Linganore),Jenove Blanfort, and
senior Trae
Proctor (Brandywine, Md./Thomas Stone). Long
gave the Retrievers the photo-finish win by crossing the line just
ahead of Albany's Winston McCormark, Jr.

He followed the win by taking the top spot in the 100m dash with
Blanfort placing fourth. The two sprinters then gave
UMBC a one-two finish in the 200m event crossing the line ahead of
three Great Danes.

Sophomore Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown)
paced the women's squad, sweeping the 100m and 200m sprints in
America East record time. Jackson won the 100m event
with a conference-best time of 11.68 and then took the 200m race by
besting her own conference mark and school record with a time of
23.58. For her efforts, she was rewarded with the
America East Most Outstanding Female Track award.

Senior Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen)
completed her career sweep of the shot put, taking the gold medal
with a career-best toss of 14.84m (48'8.25"). Deller won
the shot put competitions at each of the four America East indoor
and outdoor championships during her UMBC
career. Freshmen Nneoma
Edokobi (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) and Jennifer Nelson (Plainfield,
Conn./Plainfield) also scored for the Retrievers, taking fourth and
fifth, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Deller won the discus for the
second-straight year with a throw of 43.11m (141'5") to beat the
field by nearly eight feet. Deller matched Long by
taking the America East Most Outstanding Female Field Performer and
Coaches' Awards.

After helping the Retrievers take the 4x100 title, Proctor
earned his second-career 110m hurdles gold medal, claiming the
event with a finals' time of 14.33.

In the women's 400m hurdles, sophomore Paulette Fogle (Washington, D.C./Bishop McNamara)
edged her school-record time even further for the
second-consecutive day, taking third with a time of
1:00.83. Classmate Mary Katherine Kulp (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) also
notched a career-best time, crossing the line in 1:02.91 to place
fifth.

Coming into the 800m finals as the second-seed, freshman Andrew
Keresztes (Port Jefferson, N.Y./Port Jefferson) earned his
first career conference title with a career-best time of
1:51.24. Junior Andrew
Smith (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley) took fifth in the
event.

In the women's event, junior Cody
Mezebish (Westminster, Md./South Carroll) ran a
career-best time of 2:11.9 to move up to second all-time at UMBC
and finish fourth in the race.

A day after winning the javelin, freshman Vincent Renztsch
(Oranienburg, Germany) proved his versatility by winning the
two-day decathlon and earning Most Outstanding Male Rookie
accolades. Coming into Sunday in third-place, Rentzsch
won the discus and javelin competitions and finished tied for
fourth in the pole vault, and sixth in both the 110m hurdles 1,500m
run. Renztsch scored 6,585 points for the gold, the
fourth-most in UMBC history.

Sophomore Thor
Serafenas (Olney, Md./Good Counsel/Clemson) won the gold
medal in the discus, a day after losing the hammer by one
inch. Serafenas won the event with an opening-round toss
of 47.99m (157'5") with junior Ray Stinsman
III (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) taking fourth, junior Yao
Adanto (Laurel, Md./Reservoir/Morgan St./Maryland) finishing sixth,
and sophomore Nneoma Edokobi (Rockville, Md./Richard
Montgomery) taking eighth. Adantor earned a silver medal
in the shot put with a heave of 15.78m (51'9.25").

In the men's 1,500m run, junior Jake
Albino (Hampton, N.Y./Minisink Valley) finished fourth
with a school-record time of 3:48.35. His time eclipses the
previous record of 3:49.20 set 2007 by Anthony
Kelhower and qualifies Albino for the IC4A meet next
weekend.